And While I'm At It...

It's high time someone murdered a CEO or board member at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, AIG, et al. Make no mistake: I am advocating violence to the point of murder. I believe--no, I know--nothing short of it will alter Wall Street's stranglehold on our economy and--much more important--its stranglehold on our elected officials.

If I weren't married and I didn't have any living family, I'd be holed up in a cabin, off the grid, working out the finer points of my plan and honing my skills.

Instead, I stuff my brain with the highs and lows of popular culture and the highs and lows of recreational drug use so as not to think about this stuff too much.

(Note to any G-men reading this: I DO have a wife and I DO have living family members; just so we're clear there is 0% chance I would do such a thing. But I would cheer it on and hail such a person as a hero and patriot.)

(Second note: I don't include politicians as potential targets. Citizens can vote them out so I see such violence as unnecessary...for now)
Read more...

A Ringing Endorsement (Low-Grade Computer-Geek Content)

Last week I downloaded and installed Windows 7. Though it officially drops tomorrow, it has been available in beta form for several months. My version came late in the beta game and has been declared stable by hardcore people who know way more than I. (Important note: I've got 3GB's of memory; Microsoft claims you can run it with less but you're not gonna get the most out of it.)

Installation was quick and painless--about 30 minutes, give or take. The new "Aero" appearance is smooth and unobtrusive, and apes Apple's Leopard-style just a little bit. More important, it's quick as hell--programs open quickly and navigation through folders like Control Panel and Programs is quick as well--actions that for me have dragged in the past. Quicker than Vista, and noticeably. I've seen comparisons that show W7 is only milliseconds quicker than Vista or Snow Leopard, yet these same reviews praise it's quickness. So it may not be quicker but somehow it seems quicker.

Everything's not Just Exactly Perfect, however, though this isn't completely W7's fault per se. Some non-Microsoft programs aren't yet ready to work smoothly with it. Yeah, this was understandable a few months ago; now it's a slight pain in the ass.

I'd have expected software makers to have made adjustments. I have an Intel sound card that allowed me to run HDMI from my laptop to my tv, which was sweet. Now I only get picture but no sound, and my research shows that Intel and Microsoft are currently passing the buck on fixing it (some people have had luck with Intel's updated drivers, some have not). Nevertheless, a resolution will be along shortly one way or another so I won't sweat it.

The other hitch is my recent conversion to Google's browser, Chrome. I liked Firefox and have nothing bad to say about it, but boy do I love Chrome. It isn't loaded down with features. It's light and clean and loads quickly. However, it doesn't like working with Windows 7--but unlike my sound card, Google doesn't claim it's ready to work with W7 yet. And, considering Google's working on its own OS, maybe they don't care so much about making sure that it will.

All you really need to know is that I haven't posted in nearly 2 months but I felt compelled to sing Windows 7's praises. Make of that what you will.
Read more...